We are picked up from the Chateau for a glorious day out in perfect weather. Our driver today is a man by the name of Allan Spahr who tells us the story of his Swiss father who grew up just outside Berne - my hometown - and went to work in Wengen, in the mountains, where he developed a love for mountaineering. He migrated to Canada, got married and had a son. Unfortunately, Allan never got to meet his father because he was only 10 months old when father died in an industrial accident.
But Allan did a lot of research and eventually found out all about his father's story, met some old friends of his and even found some relations.
He tells us about how he went to visit and climbed what had been his father's favourite mountain.
By the time we have the first stop by the frozen Bow Lake, looking up at Crowfoot Glacier, I am in tears with nostalgia. It is just so incredibly majestic and beautiful all around, and to hear this story.....
Well anyway. Here are some photos.
I always seem to manage to make my photos look as if I had been the only one there. But it is really the only way to show how beautiful it all is.......much more beautiful without the people.
We're travelling on the Icefields Parkway today. We drive past an area which had been devastated by fire. It is still very much visible.
A little later we cross the Saskatchewan river and then climb a mountain pass. We stop briefly at the top to look back at the way we had come.
There's the road way down below. Right in front of me is a pussy willow just coming out. Unfortunately, it doesn't show up on the photo.
Around lunch time, we arrive at the Columbia Icefield. Several glaciers go off in different directions from here.
After some lunch, we can board small buses that take us up part of the way.
Here we transfer to chunky looking little vehicles on huge tires to climb up higher until we come to the edge of the Athabasca glacier where we get a chance to wander around for a bit. Just look how magnificent it is.
The Athabasca Glacier is one of the six principal 'toes' of the Columbia Icefield, located in the Canadian Rockies.
These are the strange looking trucks here. No speeding in those things.
Today I see for the first time people using "selfie sticks". For those readers who are babes in the woods like I am, they are long handles, like arm extensions, where you can clip on the phone at the end in order to take photos of yourself with the landscape behind.
To see a busload of young people all doing that is actually quite hilarious.
On the way back, we stop briefly by the partly frozen Waterfowl Lake.
After dinner back at the Chateau it is time for another little stroll by Lake Louise.
Feeling very humble tonight after seeing all the natural grandeur today.
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